We’re five months into the New Year and it’s time to make sure your Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns are really counting.
With our extensive knowledge and experience in guiding clients in improving their paid search activity, these 5 top tips are sure to help you see a boost in your own campaigns:
Tip #1 – Increase Revenue with Google Shopping
Google Shopping has been around for a long time, but with Google’s heavy promotion of this channel, these days it’s a different ballgame. The last year has seen a considerable rise in competition on Google Shopping, and for many this has meant an increase in cost per click bids (CPCs). One of our retail clients experienced a 63% increase in cost, but this has also come alongside rising impression levels, which have been doubling year-on-year due to wider syndication of these ads through the display network and Google’s search partners.
So if you’re looking to promote a product that’s widely available through other online sellers and retailers, then you should consider a few key points.
Firstly, the rise in impression levels for our clients has also coincided with a drop in clicks for product-specific non-brand search campaigns, with the click-share migrating over to Google Shopping. The downside is that the overall cost per acquisition (CPA) has been on the rise – meaning it’s now more expensive to generate sales.
Secondly, and following on from the above, if you’re opting in with Google Shopping then you’ve got to ensure that you have a manageable and steadfast shopping campaign with a granular setup, to help you keep track of those all-important acquisition costs.
Thirdly, remember that in an online sales environment, time is of the essence for browsers. So because shopping campaigns makes price comparisons quicker and easier for consumers, on Google Shopping you’ll need to ensure that your product stands up against like-for-like competition on price, delivery costs and product descriptions… or you could be quickly overlooked.
To summarize, Google Shopping focuses on price points and costing, making it more difficult to promote USPs that justify pricing. With the trends listed above set to continue this year, make sure you’re on point in this channel.
Tip #2 – Harness Mobile Traffic
Mobile browsing is increasing year on year, and advertisers have seen huge increases in impressions and clicks from mobile devices. So ensuring that your site or campaign caters for mobile traffic is more important than ever, as this trend is set to continue throughout 2016.
Today, every company with a website needs to make sure that they’re optimising on mobile traffic by providing a top mobile user experience and bolstering paid search campaigns.
But despite the rising trend in mobile traffic, many companies are not going mobile-friendly with their websites. Here are a few examples of good and bad mobile site designs below:
So what can you do to harness mobile traffic for your paid search campaigns?
- Secure additional resources from your business to make sure your website addresses mobile responsiveness and usability
- Include mobile-specific sitelink extensions so that important text isn’t cut off. If you’re seeking to drive phone calls, then use Call Extensions to automatically populate your business number in the user’s phone dialler, literally making you just one click away.
- Remember that when it comes to mobile traffic, one size does not fit all! Create dedicated mobile ads that use specific mobile language to increase click-through rates.
- Constantly review your campaign performance by device so that you can adjust your bids accordingly to cater for the most popular devices and higher CTRs.
Tip #3 Review PPC Performance by Day and Time
With any campaign, there are likely to be peaks and troughs when you can capture the biggest audience and conversions for your PPC campaign. Narrowing the peaks down by hourly slots of each day of the week is one sure-fire way to help boost your AdWords campaign performance.
It’s important to keep reviewing this campaign data as it could yield some very revealing data about your audience’s online behavior. Use the information to consistently adjust your ad scheduling and bids accordingly for ultra-efficient ad campaigns and a much higher return on investment.
Tip #4 – Review PPC Performance by Location to Effectively Geo-Target
As above, it’s important to keep reviewing your ads’ performance by location, as this could reveal some interesting trends that you can capitalise on. Using location data together with peak day/time data will help you target your ads and adjust your bids for the best possible results.
This data is also useful in other areas of your marketing strategies and could help shape other marketing channels and campaigns too. Keep checking, keep up to date, and keep the return on investment maximize.
Tip #5 – Use Call Tracking to Convert
Whether your business already generates lots of phone calls from customers, or you’re looking to increase the number of calls to your business, then you need to install call track solutions to help keep your marketing budgets in check and optimised. Many businesses are now discovering how invaluable call tracking can be, adjusting their campaigns accordingly – so don’t get left behind.
It’s vital to remember that although there is a cost associated with installing call tracking solutions, it’s a long-term investment that should pay in dividends. Smaller advertisers might be tempted to put off using call tracking, but the clarity of insight that it provides on the provenance of your traffic could revolutionise the way you budget and run your campaigns.
For those businesses who want to look for cheaper solutions, to help decide if call tracking is right for you. Google offers it’s own website call tracking solution, which is free. However it will only track calls from users who visited via a paid search ad. The data that is provided is far too significant to overlook when it comes to developing a robust marketing strategies.
